McSTAY CASE: Preliminary hearing rescheduled in homicides

Charles Ray "Chase" Merritt, center, with attorneys, from right, Jimmy Mettias, Sharon Brunner and Jim Terrell, confer during a hearing in San Bernardino Superior Court Friday, May 22. Merritt is charged with beating the four McStay family members to death, then burying the bodies in the desert in 2010.

A preliminary hearing for Charles Ray “Chase” Merritt has been rescheduled for June 15 in the deaths of four McStay family members, who went missing from their Fallbrook home in 2010.

The hearing was supposed to start Friday, May 22, for Merritt, 58, of Homeland near Hemet, but he told San Bernardino Superior Court Judge Michael A. Smith that he had retained legal counsel. Prosecutor Sean Daugherty also asked for a continuance.

Previously, Merritt represented himself in the case where he is accused of four counts of murder. Victorville-based attorney Jimmy Mettias has assembled a four-lawyer defense team.

The judge scheduled a readiness hearing June 12. At the preliminary hearing, the prosecution presents evidence aimed at convincing a judge there is probable cause to hold the defendant for trial.

The skeletal remains of the McStay parents and young children were found in 2013 near Victorville. Merritt, a former Apple Valley resident, was arrested a year later.

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